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Nikko NP, Tochigi
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Nikko’s 3 great peaks were revered as deities and represented by the hall’s Buddhas: Senju Kannon is Nantai, the father; Amida is Nyoho, the mother; and Bato Kannon is Taro, their child.
Sanbutsudo has a second trio, too: after Toshogu was founded, images of Yakushi, Amida, and Shakyamuni were added high in the hall. The celebrated three Buddhas share their sanctuary with three more.
At the April 2 Strong Rice Ceremony, yamabushi urge a participant to finish a towering serving—3 shō, about 5 kg—while calling for 75 bowls. The tradition is linked to mountain offerings shared with villagers.
Each of the 3 principal statues measures 7.5 m from its pedestal to the top of its halo. Their extraordinary scale suits a hall devoted to the sacred mountains of Nikko.
Sanbutsudo measures 33 m wide, 25 m deep, and 26 m high. Rinnoji describes it as eastern Japan’s largest wooden building—a vast hall built around a mountain-centered faith.
After Japan’s 1871 order separated Buddhism and Shinto, Sanbutsudo was dismantled from Futarasan Shrine’s grounds and moved to its present site by 1879. The building has changed location more than once.
Temple tradition traces the Ennen dance to monk Ennin bringing it from Tang China in 848. Each May 17, 2 priests perform it in folded robe-headdresses and swords, praying for peace.
A 75 cm bronze temple gong dated 1507 once hung in the Sanbutsudo that preceded today’s building. Rinnoji says its size suggests the medieval hall was already imposing.
A wood-boring beetle turned planned repairs into a major half-dismantling job. For 8 years, visitors could watch the work from a public walkway; the restoration project lasted 13 years.
The roughly 500-year-old Kongo Sakura was moved to Sanbutsudo’s forecourt during the hall’s late-19th-century relocation. Temple lore says it survived and grew 4 trunks; its name honors an abbot’s posthumous title.
Sanbutsudo originally served as the main hall for the entire Nikko-zan religious complex, not just Rinnoji. Modeled on Kyoto’s Enryakuji, it divides worshippers’ outer space from the inner sanctuary.
